sustainable living in the great white North

Spring has Sprung!

It has been a long and ridiculously cold winter. Last week we were seeing temperatures of -40 C and this week, I’m thrilled to say, we’ve hit +5 C for several days in a row. For my foreign readers, +5 C is t-shirt weather in Canada. Another two degrees and it’ll be time to break out the shorts. Granted, there’re still several feet of snow on the ground- so it’ll most definitely be shorts with boots- but such is spring in Canada.

Like many of my cold compatriots I’ve spent the last several weeks poring over seed catalogues, dreaming of warmer days. Yesterday I finally got my act together and put my orders in. I ordered my seeds through Salt Spring Seeds and The Cottage Gardener, two wonderful Canadian companies with a wide variety of heirloom seeds. That was the exciting part of the day.

Now, I have to say- there are times when I still get comments on the “About” section of this blog and I think the reference I made to us as “city kids” as passé. We are so beyond that. We know what we’re doing now. We are country folk. And then I remember, “oh no you’re not”. The gardens being a good reminder- because I still have no real idea what I’m doing, other than that some of it is working out.

The one brilliant tip that I have put to good use is to mimic nature, mixing my plants instead of planting all clean rows of single species. For the last few years I have happily thrown seeds willy-nilly all over the place and had pretty amazing results. Last year I had such a bumper crop of tomatoes I was eating them like apples throughout the day. Still, I know that I can get even better results if I know a thing or two about the vegetables, herbs and flowers that I’m planting.

As much as I love the seed companies that I deal with they are miserable for providing useful information. Take this as an example, from a Cottage Gardener package of Horehound seeds: This herb takes its name from Horus, Egyptian god of sky and light. Folk legend through the ages attributed it with the power to break magic spells. Syrups and cough drops have been made from it since at least he 16th century. So if I’m Harry Potter or a seed-historian, this is great information. But what about planting and caring for the little f*ckers?

So after ordering the seeds, the next stage involved inputting all of my seeds into an Excel spreadsheet. I have about 65 species to sort and I want to know everything from when I can expect them to mature, sun required, soil preferred, how tall/wide they grow, spacing, whether I should be planting a second crop later in the season, which are good companion plants, which will do best in a hoop house, etc.

That took me all freaking day. I had to google most of the plants one by one, and then a lot of the sites only had partial information so I had to research multiple sites. I am not quite done yet but even if I get no further, I have a ton of useful information. And I know a lot more about my plants that I ever did before.

My next step will be plotting a map, so that I can design my space to get the best results. And then I’ll need to start moving earth again (once the snow melts) and preparing the different soils for planting, building a couple of pathways between gardens, and getting the hoop houses ready. All this with one arm tied behind my back- because spring has finally arrived and though it may not be recognizable as such to my friends from warmer climes, I am Canadian! Full of piss and vinegar and ready to get my game on!☺

12 Responses

Good to hear that it is warming up over there. We had one great day yesterday, back to mini-winter today but should be much warmer after that. Your garden plan sounds great, planting “willy nilly” should force an advanced learning curve on the best companion plantings for your location. Unless you are a Vulcan, it is tough to learn everything about growing food in one lifetime. I hope you decide to scan and post your map, so we can all learn from your experience.
Cheers!
Mark.

I was amazed at the increase in production once I abandoned traditional gardening. And last year we had terrible swarms of grasshoppers through but somehow the mix in the garden seemed to deter them. They ate a bit but nothing compared to the damage they normally do- except for the sunflowers which they hit pretty hard at the end.

Hehe…I am with you! I am planting in Smokey Lake this spring, and we got our seeds from those two companies as well! HA!
We started a year or so ago, reading on all the sites, and buying books…but there really is no substitute for hard work, hey?

That whole planning thing is something I’m always too lazy to do. I’m lucky we have a local gardening guru here in Tassie who has published a very handy quick guide (as well as several books) http://www.abc.net.au/tasmania/stories/s2106182.htm so I just follow that. Keep it up, Brandee, you will be the next gardening guru!

Your beets are colossal! I thought you had dug them up from wintering over, and thought that that would be impossible since we don’t expect Spring for several weeks, the way this winter is going. A half hour South shows some promise of bulbs some day soon(er).

I can’t believe that you make a spreadsheet! Me too! Start dates, repot dates, put out dates, expect harvest dates. Sounds like you need a database, with companion plants and sun requirements and such, or does filtering columns work for you?

I read about the plants I;m going to plant each year by going to several websites, too, and I have been gardening all of my life. Lifelong learning.

I love mapping. I do it at the end of the summer, to apply what I learned. I like your method of broadcasting seeds. I have wanted to try that, but I was so steeped in neat rows, that the closest I have gotten is mapping areas instead of rows, and then staggering rows. I must discipline myself to be less disciplined.

Old pic but I wanted one of the vegs. The beets get quite large and are surprisingly tender- I expected them to be woody at that size. Love the spreadsheet- makes me feel on top of things, as least during the period before I start. Things will very quickly get hectic around here and any semblance of being in control will vanish. But I’m feeling good right now! 😉